Their story begins in late 2001 on a muddy rugby pitch under the canopy of the Swiss Alps where they played in opposing high school teams. Fast forward to the first day of freshman year at the University of Richmond. To their utter surprise, there they were - both moving boxes into the exact same dorm room. Within an instance they went from former rugby nemesis to roommates. From there, their friendship flourished as they enrolled in the same major, pursued similar interests, and pushed one another to do more and excell.

Since then, they've parted ways to pursue careers in different parts of the globe, but their mutual interests and desire to push each other to the limits has persisted, and now they've decided to team up and climb Mt Kilimanjaro to raise funds for the Kilimanjaro Blind Trust.

As stated on their fundraising page: "In the USA, 70% of blind who cannot read Braile are unemployed while 80% who are Braille literate are employed. Of the 6 million children who are blind, almost 87% live in developing countries where resources to help them and their families cope are scarce, if existent at all. To date, the Kilimanjaro Blind Trust has opened 3 spare parts depots to facilitate the reparation of Braille machines, has funded intensive programs to train more than two dozen people to repair braille machines, has distributed dozens of new machines to classrooms throughout the country and has helped repair over 2,000 machines. Braille literacy is key to jobs and to independence.


To learn more about their climb and help them meet their goal, please visit their fundraising page today!

And they've even received press coverage of their climb. Read their latest press here!

Labels: Efforts, friends, fundraising, Mt. Kilimanjaro

Dear Friends,

On November 7th I will be running the New York Marathon to raise funds for the Kilimanjaro Blind Trust, in partnership with Perkins International. Our goal is to raise, as a minimum, $150,000. Your generous individual support will ensure that even more Perkins Braillers ® can be distributed to students throughout East Africa and that we can continue to increase Braille literacy. Remember, all funds go directly to Brailler machines, repair and training; there are no administration costs! Your contribution does make a difference to the education of blind or visually impaired children in East Africa.

The Kilimanjaro Blind Trust is starting to make a significant impact in East Africa. Since its establishment in 2005, it has created momentum to attack Braille literacy. USAids is now helping fund other aspects of visually impaired work making our work even more effective. The governments of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania are very supportive. The Brailler replacement and repair training courses are becoming a model for other countries. The spare parts depot and trained repair staff we put in place over the past two years have facilitated the repair of more than 2000 Braillers in this region. Regional co-ordination is also becoming a model in other geographic areas of the world. Teachers are noticing that performance amongst visually impaired students is improving as they have more access to machines.

Braille is the key to literacy for people who are blind, the gateway to employment and independence. Yet still today most blind students in East Africa will not learn Braille because their schools do not have the necessary tools.

Please go to http://support.perkins.org/goto/paulpolman to make a credit card donation on behalf of my Marathon run. To donate by wire transfer, cash or check, please click here. Your gift truly has a direct impact on hundreds of blind and visually impaired children in East Africa.

The Kilimanjaro Blind Trust, with Perkins International, advances Braille literacy among students throughout East Africa. Kilimanjaro Blind Trust was launched by a group of friends who climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro. Led by Erik Weihenmayer, the acclaimed mountain climber who is blind, five blind climbers summitted Mt. Kilimanjaro and set a new record. The Kilimanjaro Blind Trust focuses on improving the lives of blind children in East Africa and reaches thousands of children by distributing new Perkins Braillers ® to schools and agencies for the blind.

Your support for the Kilimanjaro Blind Trust can make that long awaited day a memorable one for villages across East Africa. A day when students begin learning to read and write. Learn more about the Kilimanjaro Blind Trust.

Here is a link to a recent CBS news report in the United States on the importance of Braille literacy. http://www.perkins.org/news-events/news/cbs-braille-literacy.html

Thanks for your support. It does make a difference.


Paul Polman
Chairman, Perkins International and Founder of the Kilimanjaro Blind Trust

Labels: fundraising, marathon, Perkins Alliance, update

Here's an interesting article about the Benefits of Braille by Bruce Atchison, a legally-blind freelance writer as well as the author of Deliverance from Jericho and When a Man Loves a Rabbit.

You can read his post here:
Bruce Atchison -- author: THE BENEFITS OF BRAILLE

Dear Donors and Friends,

Another year has quickly passed so we would like to update you on what the
Kilimanjaro Blind Trust accomplished in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda and what we
plan to continue working on.

Momentum is increasing and we are excited to report that after a productive year,
the projects that the Kilimanjaro Blind-Trust is funding are beginning to become a
model, expandable to other regions. Our further goal is to continue to develop this
model and to make it sustainable.

The Braille machine repair network established in 2009, including training repair
technicians, establishing spare parts depots, funding transportation costs to deliver
machines, etc. has functioned well in 2010 so that over 2000 machines have
been repaired. Repair training programs continue to go on at both a beginner and
advanced level. We have provided more new Braille machines as well. As a result,
to our great excitement, better access to machines in the schools has started to
have an impact on visually impaired students. As the leader of the training sessions
stated, "Participants (of the training) professed that since the inception of the repair
project, there has been serious improvement of the performance of the blind children
in schools."

The Trust's Perkins School for the Blind contact who manages our programs in East
Africa, Laura Matz, recently visited the region where she met with representatives
from the three countries. She came back with positive news about the impact that
the Trust is starting to make and is now very excited about how it is becoming a
model for other regions in the world. This regional coordination makes a larger
impact and alerts governments and other aid agencies to the importance of Braille
literacy, who then start to become involved, thus creating even more momentum.
This is just starting to happen. USAids, for example, has recently joined us in
funding part of the repair training workshops. The Uganda government is providing
the salary of a repair technician for the first time.

But there is still much that needs to be done.

Repair training will continue to be done, and we hope now to establish a standard
of proficiency for the technicians with recognition through certification in the regions.
This will make it a profession in itself to be aspired to, and hopefully, over the
long-term, to have a stable group of technicians who have gained considerable
experience and can perform even the most difficult repairs.

Ongoing we are still working on establishing a databank of all the machines in

the countries to be able to track the machines and their repair schedule, to detect
repeated problems, to better train students how to use the machines and care for
them.

Despite our assistance in making existing machines available for use again and
despite our donations of new machines, on average only 1 in 4 visually impaired
student (in Uganda for example) has access to a machine. Not only does this limit
their progress, but apparently, it also increases the risk of damaging a machine.
The students need their own machines throughout the day, every day. Without
it, they cannot take notes, or do homework, or take exams. Therefore, we must
continue to repair machines, but also distribute 1000's of new ones.

Access to high grade Braille paper is also an important need. This paper needs to
be imported and is very expensive. When schools run out, they use other paper
which is often another cause of broken machines. Therefore, the Trust will assist in
improving access to Braille paper.

Still to be developed is better and consistent teacher training so teachers can
properly teach Braille.

Therefore your support is still needed, small and large.

Thank you again for your commitment to the Kilimanjaro Blind Trust which is proud
to support the dedicated people in Africa and at Perkins who are carrying out our
mission.

We wish you a very successful and enriching year, and thank you again from the
depths of our hearts.

Paul Polman
Director, Kilimanjaro Blind Trust
CEO, Unilever

Mr. Jude Afema assisting trainees on how to remove a mainspring

This is a report for the training of Perkins Brailler repair technicians. This training was sponsored by the Perkins school for the blind, Kilimanjaro blind trust and USAID and was implemented by Uganda National Association of the Blind. Twelve participants were drawn from twelve different schools and districts of Uganda. The selection was conducted by the UNAB staff, board, head teachers and head of units. During the training, participants were trained on how to handle general maintenance and minor repairs. According to our assessment participants can now handle all the minor repairs and general maintenance. Participants were all given a full tool kit each to use in the field and will be followed up to select best seven who will be invited for the advanced training.


OBJECTIVES OF THE TRAINING;
1. To equip participants with the basic skills on how to handle minor repairs and general maintenance.
2. Increase the number of technicians in the field who can handle minor repairs.

In Uganda, we have over 5000 blind children in schools and 1000 Perkins Braillers. Like any other equipments, Perkins Braillers too face mechanical problems and need regular servicing. In order to achieve this in time, we need technicians who can at least handle minor repairs and refer major ones to UNAB. There is a very big gap between the number of Braillers and the users. This means more than four blind children share a Perkins Brailler and therefore over worked, leading to continuous and regular breakages. We acknowledge the fact that there are other more advanced innovations that can read and write Braille but can not be applied in sub sahara Africa in the near future because;

Joseph supervising trainees as they try to fix the keys back

a) Most of the new innovations need electricity yet in most sub sahara Africa, there is no hope for electricity in the near future,
b) Others need to be connected to gadgets like computers which make the processes of writing to be more expensive yet this is a third world country (a case for Uganda),
c) A perkins Brailler remains cheaper and can stand the most hard condition,
d) The durability of a perkins Brailler compared to other innovations if high,
However, despite all the above most of the parents of the blind children are poor and therefore can not afford to buy a Brailler for their children. The government of Uganda is positive doesn’t have much to contribute towards this cause.

In order to redress this challenges, we need continuous supply of Perkins Braillers in the country, technicians who can work on them in case of mechanical problems and supply of spare parts.

EXPECTATIONS;
- Acquire knowledge,
- Secure tools and spare parts,
- Get certificates,
- Transport refund,
- Out of pocket,
- Get manuals and hand outs,
- Good feeding and accommodation,

Participants helping each other to reassemble a Perkins Brailler

- Make new friends,
- First aid.

OBSERVATIONS/RESULTS
- Members successful mastered the training. They qualify for the advanced training.
- Participants professed that since the inception of the repair project, there has been serious improvement of the performance of the blind children in schools.
- The more we entered further into the training, the trainees seemed to find it harder and it took us more time on some topics than we had anticipated.
- Schools may be supportive but luck some of the resources.
- During the training, eight Perkins Braillers were repaired by the trainees.


CHALLENGES.
• Most of the technicians we have trained don’t use internet, this may delay communication and reports from the field.

Group photo during program closure

• Schools/units of the blind are spread apart and this may affect the assistance expected from technicians to the nearby schools.
• Majority of the technicians trained are teachers who are connected to some units, but may not be able to get time to assist other schools where they are not stationed.
• Some of the trained technicians have fewer Braillers to practice on. They may not have a lot of chance to explore and or build their carrier.
• Transfers and promotions may affect some of the technicians’ performance.
• Lack of recommended Braille paper on the market and money to secure it outside Uganda.

Labels: Education, Perkins Alliance, Perkins Brailler, training, update